Judiciary

This week we discuss the global reaction to the passing of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew with CSIS Sumitro Chair Senior Fellow Murray Hiebert. Hiebert describes Lee’s legacy, explains what Lee and the Singaporean people have accomplished, and assesses whether Singapore’s politics will be more…

By Gregory Poling The Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force launched a raid on January 25 in Mamasapano on the southern island of Mindanao that killed wanted terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, known as Marwan, but at the cost of 44…

By Owen Jollie In January, Sri Lankan voters ousted former president Mahinda Rajapakse in favor of a candidate of the united opposition, Maithripala Sirisena. With this change Sri Lanka began moving away from a strong-handed government to a more democratic…

By Jacob Thomases Two of Indonesia’s most prominent institutions, the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), are locked in their third public row in seven years. This time, the clash has tarnished the reputation of President Joko “Jokowi”…

Who is she? Gillian Triggs is the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission (HRC), a government funded agency. She was appointed to the position by former prime minister Julia Gillard in July 2012. Prior to that appointment she was…

By Ernest Z. Bower Indonesia’s new presidential chief of staff Gen. Luhut Panjaitan visited Washington, D.C. this week to build on a strengthening foundation of U.S.-Indonesia ties and prepare for the inaugural visit of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Before diving…

By Gregory Poling Those closely following the situation in the South China Sea have been wringing their hands about the military potential of China’s unprecedented island building work over the last year. This anxiety is understandable, and the expanded patrol…

By Renato Cruz de Castro The 2012 Scarborough Shoal stand-off between the Philippines and China was the proverbial tipping point caused by China’s pattern of protracted, aggressive actions against the Philippines that began two years earlier. In mid-2010, the Philippine…

By Joshua Simonidis The military junta that seized power in Thailand in May has set up a number of institutions to reform Thai government and society as the generals deem necessary. These new institutions are often opaque, as are their…